The Wrong Songs?

By Paul Flower on Nov 6, 09 10:09 AM

My friends and colleagues at Absolute Radio have recently launched a campaign to find the best songs of the last decade, 2000-2009. It's one of those impossible questions that at first seems to be beyond calculation, until you start looking into it and realise that it is even worse than that.

Luckily they put together a web-site to assist those of us with short, or no, memories. It lists other people's picks, the most popular choices of the last 24 hours and allows you to search by act. The latter function has been invaluable to people like me who can't remember one decade from the next or the last, or even what period a decade is meant to cover.

My first thought was not to over-think my choice, to be decisive - pick one and move on. Consequently I went with 'Hey Ya' by Outkast. It was an easy choice because it is one of the few songs that always makes me smile, it never outlasted its welcome. I can still play it today and when it comes on I often press repeat to immediately hear it again. It's a real impact song that I knew was a huge hit as soon as I heard it. I also remember where I was when that moment occurred - in the car listening to the album on CD and thinking that it generally wasn't that great. Then POW 'Hey Ya' came on and everything changed.

The other advantage that 'Hey Ya' had over the thousands of other songs from the last decade was that it was slightly different to most of the stuff I generally like. The bulk of my collection is white guitar music, admittedly this is interspersed with a bit of hip-hop, soul and funk but white indie-rock- is the overwhelming presence on my CD shelves.

Picking 'Hey Ya' also removed my standard urge to be controversially hip, to pick the most 'bleeding-edge' song that no-one else would've thought of. Once upon a time this would've occurred naturally, but I recognise that I'm moving out of the loop and I leave that to others. This was an unfortunate decision for the likes of Arcade Fire and Joan As Police Woman who would've otherwise figured highly. I recognise that even thinking that these acts are painfully radical is, in itself, an admission that I'm too far removed from 'the edge'.

Of course having vowed not to over-think it that became inevitable, particularly as time moved on and I started looking at the choices of others. Like any internet poll it became invaded by the fanatics, those ludicrously obsessed with one act or other - acts that tend to appeal to young people, those who think they're young or once were when this act was at the height of its powers. As nice as McFly are, this can be the only excuse for their presence!

Over-thinking went into over-drive as the choices suddenly became extensive; surely no-one with a love of music could pick just the one song. I started picking more. Recalling some of the best live acts I'd seen in the last ten years I had to opt for some Foo Fighters - another act I can play at any time and get something from them. Opening at V Festival in 2007 Dave Grohl had come on-stage alone with 'Everlong', the band joining him half-way thru - it was a phenomenal opening but even I know that 'Everlong' is over ten years old so that left the opening songs on 'One by One', a great album that begins with two belters, songs that inspired me over many miles of running in the last decade: 'All My Life' and 'Times Like These'. 'All My Life' is the one I prefer to scream along to, hence it got the vote. I used to get some funny looks when I was running - now I know why.

I by-passed The Felice Brothers whose live heroics don't seem to transfer to CD and Amy Winehouse whom I'd seen both good (early) and bad (late) but paused awhile with Doves. A band I've always expected to break thru to the next level, to go stratospheric. It has yet to happen, but it will. No band with such anthemic abilities can remain restricted for long. As ever there was too much choice but 'Pounding' prevailed, possibly because I was once responsible for it being played at the Hawthorns some years back when the teams came out. An achievement I still rank among my finer moments - the marriage of two of the key loves of my life.

In committing myself to one quick choice I'd subsequently picked two others and it was starting to become an obsession. I saved another for an act that has gone 'global' in a short-time during the last decade. Kanye West, possibly another strange choice for me, released two of the best hip-hop albums ever within two years - 04/05 - each containing equally strong songs and many candidates for Song Of The Decade. Limiting my choice to one from each, 'Jesus Walks' and 'Touch The Sky' were easy votes, the latter not least because it samples one of my all-time favourite songs, Curtis Mayfield's 'Move On Up', but also because it was my mobile ringtone for a couple of years in the last ten.

So now I'm on a roll, remembering that Radiohead are still one of my favourite bands, 'There There', 'Knives Out' and 'Pyramid Song' went in whilst I spotted Queens of The Stone Age nearby on the CD shelf prompting 'No One Knows' and 'First It Giveth'.

Could any review of the last decade fail to notice Muse? I don't think they excel in songs but the muscular 'Supermassive Black Hole' had to go in, whilst the memories of Basement Jaxx being the highlight of Isle Of Wight last year meant a vote for 'Where's Your Head At'. I even checked to make sure The Afghan Whigs hadn't released anything since 1998, it was becoming more than an obsession.

Songs of the Decade - there are more than you'd think. Others will mean more to you than they ever could to me, best to go and have your say before I start voting again.